The 10 best concerts in the Philly area this weekend: XPoNential Music Fest, Lil Nas X
Thirty bands will play the two-venue festival on the Camden waterfront, plus the "Old Town Road" star plays the Met.
The XPoNential Music Festival is the main event of the concert weekend, with 30 acts playing in two side-by-side venues on the Camden waterfront, kicking off Friday afternoon and running through Sunday.
Friday night’s three-act bill at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion is stellar.
Headliners are The War On Drugs, the Philly-born band led by Adam Granduciel with a cascading sound first played the fest in 2008 and has grown into a global success. On tour for last year’s excellent I Don’t Live Here Anymore, the septet — who recently added Philly instrumentalist Eliza Hardy Jones — opened for the Rolling Stones in London’s Hyde Park.
» READ MORE: Review: The War on Drugs, triumphant in the first of two hometown shows at The Met
Friday’s opener is punk-poet and rock legend Patti Smith, the charismatic, trailblazing performer who grew up in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia and Deptford Township in South Jersey. So it’ll be a homecoming show of sorts for Smith and her band, who will be preceded by up and coming New York alt-rock band Geese.
Saturday’s FMP bill is headlined by Colorado’s Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, along with New Orleans rock band The Revivalists. Third on the bill is Snacktime, the party band who have become ubiquitous in Philly since starting as Rittenhouse Square buskers in 2020.
Two dozen other bands also will play outdoors the fest presented by WXPN-FM (88.5) at adjacent Wiggins Park, beginning with local rockers The Tisburys at the Marina Stage at 3:25 p.m. Friday, and closing with Jenny Lewis on the River Stage at 6 p.m. Sunday.
In between, there’s much to recommend.
Egyptian vocalist Tamino, Latinx psychedelic band Dos Santos, country-punk Sarah Shook, and bluesman Taj Mahal play Friday.
Saturday features the country and folk songwriters of Black Opry Revue, Philly ska band Catbite, indie rocker Bartees Strange and Americana stars Valerie June and Lucinda Williams.
» READ MORE: Black Opry Revue showcases Black country and folk singers
And along with Philly buzz band Cosmic Guilt, Sunday’s River Stage features a formidable lineup of women with Lewis, Kathleen Edwards, and The Suffers.
XPoNential Music Festival at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, 1 Harbour Blvd., and Wiggins Park, Riverside Drive and MLK Blvd., Camden. Tickets range from $5-$60 for single day passes to Wiggins Park only, to $216-$435 for 3 Day Go Everywhere passes. More information and a schedule is at xpnfest.org.
Beyond XPoNential, here are nine other shows highlights in the coming week, from zydeco to gospel to hip-hop to rockabilly to jazz.
Dikki Du is Troy Carrier, a Louisiana accordionist with a serious zydeco lineage: he’s the son of squeeze-box player Roy Carrier, the brother of Chubby Carrier, and former washboard player for Clifton Chenier. $10-$20, 8 p.m., 9/16, Commodore Barry Club, 6815 Emlin St., allonsdanser.org.
The Penn Live Arts season kicks off at Annenberg Center with the gospel greats fronted by 90-year-old vocalist Jimmy Carter. The quintet are supporting 2017′s Almost Home. $29-$52, 8 p.m., 9/17, Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut St., pennlivearts.org.
Rhett Miller stays busy. The prolific songwriter has released seven albums under his own name, and seems to be always touring as a solo act when not on the road with full-speed-ahead Americana rockers Old 97s, who put out their 12th album, Twelfth, in 2018. $32, 8 p.m., 9/16, Ardmore Music Hall, 23 East Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, ardmoremusichall.com
New Zealand songwriter Marlon Williams is known for somber and quite good alt-country records. But the Maori singer takes a left turn on the brand new My Boy, which surprises with an affection for synth pop and a playful, sunny attitude. $20, 8 p.m., 9/16, Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., JohnnyBrendas.com.
The Atlanta rapper born Montero Hill has put on a master class on how to navigate celebrity in the social media age since his country-trap “Old Town Road” became the longest running No. 1 hit in Billboard’s history. The over the top showman has promised that the Long Live Montero show will be anything but “your regular a— tour.” $84-$511, 8 p.m., 9/22, The Met Philadelphia, 858 N. Broad St., themetphilly.com
The Colombian duo of Simon Mejia and Liliana Saumet expertly blend digital production with Latin music styles. They call their sound “electro tropical.” Deja, their sixth album, was one of the strongest of 2021. This year, they collaborated with Bad Bunny on “Ojitos Lindos.” $30-$35, 8 p.m., 9/20, Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, 1009 Canal St., brooklynbowl.com/philadelphia.
The great Mexican-American rocker Alejandro Escovedo’s career stretches back to the late 1970s with his punk band The Nuns. His latest project is 2018′s The Crossing, a collaboration with Italian band Don Antonio that tells of two immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border into Texas. $20-$25, 7:30 p.m., 9/18, City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia
Memphis rockabilly rebel and performance artist Tav Falco is a terrific live performer. The natty dresser featured in Robert Gordon’s classic book It Came From Memphis promises to plumb “the dark waters of the unconscious.” $15, 8 p.m., 9/19, Ortleib’s, 847 N. Third St., ortleibsphilly.com
Ambrose Akinmusire, a jazz trumpeter from Oakland, Calif., is a virtuoso who’s been featured on albums by Kendrick Lamar and Esperanza Spalding, and has released a series of inventive, exploratory albums with intriguing titles like 2020′s On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment. $25-$35, 8 p.m., 9/21, City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia